The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1887-12-03
LIFE in HONDURAS
Strange Customs That Prevail. I'm n vll'
Iaues Of the Csribs.

/, Honduras TO Truxillo are mere trall
through the mountains. The onl
!. means of TRANSPORTATION is by pac
: mules. Most of the houses in Truxill
are long. low-roofed, one-story dwell
ings, built of stone and mortar, COO
and well adapted to the climate. Yer.
} substantial, l am told they are; indeed
some of them have been standin!
hundreds of years. They are any thint
but picturesque looking. being total!
unornamented on the outside. l
seems to me that all the houses lool
alike; in fact, an air of sameness per
yades the place.
The surrounding scenery, on thu
other hand, compensates for the dull
ness and makes a beautiful frame for q
plain picture.
Behind the town is a high range Of
mountains thickly wooded, with little
streamlets trickling down to the sea.
In the valleys on either side are Carit
yillages-one, tho village on the Rio
Crystallis, the other on the Rio Negro.
We visited the Carib town on the Rio
Crystallis and found it y much larger
settlement than it appeared to be.
These so-called Caribs are, properly
speaking, not Caribs, but / the de-
scendants Of an African tribe. Yet
they most decidedly object to being
classed as negroes, and boast that they
have never been slaves They are
quite like the ordinary negro, with
this exception, that they are scru-
pulously clean about their persons.
AS is common among most peoples
of rude civilization, the women are
the drudgcs. They are the hewers of
wood and the drawers of water. and
it is not uncommon to see a mother
padding a dory load of bananas. with
her infant squatting in the bottom OF
the boat.
When q nan among the Caribs
wishes to take unto himself q wife he
hews himself out a dory, and, with the
assistance of his friends and a jug OF
rum, gathers together the wherewithal
to build his hut. which consists of a few
poles, a pile of clay to fo,m the floor
and to fill in the w~ickerwork sides OF
his house, and some leaves of the
palm to lhatch the roof with.
de then clears off a patch of ground
md plants II few L OF corn and some
'ams and cassava root, This he calls
lis plantation. He is then considered
IN eligible swain. and is in a position
choose u partner from among the
husky maidens.
This plantation is entirely looked
lfter by the woman. She gathers tbs
'orn TO make tortillas, and digs the
root to make her bread. IL
isited a Carib house and watched
he operation Of cassava bread.
They first wash the
DOT, then CRATE it on q board
with small, sharp particles
+ flint to form n rough surface; then
it in order to extract the surplus
nice, which is considered poisonous.
heir mode of straining is extremely
rimitive. The article used as a
trainer is q long snake-like arrange
'ent, made from a species of palmetto
rass plated together, and looks ex-
like a huge serpent, 1t is about
Ight feet long and about three inches
! diameter, and open at ono end.
he strainer is suspended on a hook
ON the ~rafters, the grated cassaya is
CURED in, then a heavy weight is at
'ched to the lower end, which causes
lie strainer to contract, and SO ex-
the juice. After it has been
lorouchly strained it is baked into
rye, fat cakes, which form tho daily
cad of the Carib.
These appliances for making the cas-
VA bread, together with a couple
stools, u table, and the veritable
,mmotk, comprise tho furnishings Of
house.
While walking through the town We
in on the school. There
ere about fifty Carib boys, all order.
and clean-looking, taught by a
Jung Spaniard. The text books arc
| Spanish, the history and geogra.
~ of Honduras being the principal
udies. We had u delightful ride on
'rseba elk along the beach and up to
e RIO Crystallis, where VIC surprised
number of Carib women who were
clothes in tho stream. There
ey stood, knee deep in the water.
using the clothes and putting them
dry on the stones. While riding IN
and fording the river We gave the !
the rcins and allowed them to l
loose their W path. and to tho ut {
L CONSERVATION of the G arb washer. {
omen, the horses walked right over s
@ spotless clothes. l
The beautiful crystal stream find,
source away up in the mountains.
I'd besides lending a charm 10 the
rounding scenery, furnishes til. {
Wn Of Truyi1ln with 1v,to. \